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Kiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba is an urban Israeli settlement in Southern Judea (Southern West Bank) adjoining the city of Hebron. The Hebrew name is קִרְיַת־אַרְבַּע, meaning "Town of the Four Giants", and transliterated in Standard Hebrew as Qiryat Arbaʻ and in Tiberian Hebrew as Qiryaṯ-ʼarbaʻ. The equivalent Arabic name is قرية أربع Qiryat ʼArbaʻ. The place is mentioned in the English Bible as Kirjath-arba. Biblically, it is generally regarded as another name for Hebron. In 1968, a group of future Jewish Gush Emunim members led by Rabbi Moshe Levinger founded Kiryat Arba immediately to the east of Hebron. Settlements around Hebron like this are claimed to be justified also in light of the 1929 Hebron massacre and the continuing presence of Jews in the area till then. Building began on an abandoned military base in 1970, and residents moved in 1971. The town is a self-sufficient community, with pre-nursery though post-secondary educational institutions, medical facilities, shopping centers, a bank and a post office. Kiryat Arba attained Local council status in 1979. The population in 2005 was approximately 6,500, with an additional 2,700 Israelis living in a number of smaller surrounding settlements. While Kiryat Arba is located within the territory of the Har Hebron Regional Council, it is an independent local council.
Origin of the name Kiryat Arba In the Book of Joshua (14:15) it says: "Now the name of Hebron previously was Kiryat Arba, he Arba was the great man among the giants ''Anakim''..." *. According to the rabbinical commentator Rashi, Kiryat Arba ("Town of Arba") means either the town (kirya) of Arba himself, the giant who had three sons, or is referring to four giants: Arba and his three sons, Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmi who are described as being the sons of a "giant" in the Book of Numbers (13:22): "On the way through the Negev, they (Joshua and Caleb) came to Hebron where they saw Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmi, descendants of the Giant (ha-anak)..." * which is according to the Targum and Saadia Gaon, but some say that Anak ("Giant", see Anak) is a proper name (Targum Jonathan and the Septuagint). *, and that he, Anak, may have been the father of the three others mentioned in the Book of Numbers as living in Hebron which the Book of Joshua says was previously called Kiryat Arba. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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